Could anyone help me with why this cover would have been opened by the War Office Postal Censor and due to my not knowing very much about the War Office Postal Censor what was it? Also, can anyone tell me about the Censor 4858 label.

I have seen examples of 2 covers from the Anglo Russian Hospital in Petrograd sent via London to Canada and the two I have seen in the Maple Leaves journal are not censored but do have Russian Red Cross Anglo-Russian Hospital. Petrograd cachet.

Thanks in advance

Chris S-Weddell

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Hello ChrisThe oval handstamp of the War Office is typical of mail that has been hand-carried or sent in official bags to UK.During WWI the War Office was the responsible Govt Department for censorship of the mails.The label indicates the item was examined in the London Office of the censorship.Similar items going to Canada would very likely not be examined in London as that would be left to the Canadians to decide whether to open and see the contents.If a similar item was addressed to a neutral country, or one which the British censors considered inadequate in terms of censorship then London would open and examine the contents.London censors dealt with all transit mail, all PoW mail and all terminal mail other than West African and the Americas.Liverpool censors handled the terminal West African and all terminal American mails.London numbers 1-1500 and 4000-5999, Liverpool numbers 1500-3999 and 6000 up.Only one cover seen, so far, with label 1500 and it is not possible to say in which station it was examined.I hope this helpsGraham